Christopher M. Whaley, Ph.D., Named Recipient of the 2021 Seema S. Sonnad Emerging Leader in Managed Care Research Award

CRANBURY, N.J., Sept. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®), the leading peer-reviewed journal dedicated to managed care, presented Christopher M. Whaley, Ph.D., with the 2021 Seema S. Sonnad Emerging Leader in Managed Care Research Award at the 10th annual Patient-Centered Oncology Care^® conference, held on Thursday, September 23, 2021, in Nashville, Tennessee.

"I'm delighted to present Dr. Whaley with this incredible honor," said Mike Hennessy Jr., president and CEO of MJH Life Sciences™, parent company of AJMC^®. "He is an influential member of the managed care research community and a true innovator in the space."

Whaley is a policy researcher at RAND and a professor at Pardee RAND Graduate School. His research focuses on using large-scale medical claims data to examine how information and financial incentives influence patients' choice of providers, how providers respond to changes in consumer incentives and how employers and insurers can design insurance benefits to promote value. His research has been published in a variety of clinical, health policy and economics journals, and he is the lead author of a JAMA paper that examines the effects of online price transparency information.

"I'm honored to receive an award that's representative of Dr. Sonnad's tremendous influence. Her work touched the lives of many, and I will work to ensure her legacy of mentorship and leadership lives on," said Whaley.

This award was established in honor of Seema S. Sonnad, Ph.D., former associate editor of AJMC^®, who passed away in June 2015. Sonnad served as a mentor to many young researchers and was the inspiration for the creation of an award that recognizes and encourages early career achievements in the field of managed care.

About The American Journal of Managed Care^®
The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®) is a multimedia, peer-reviewed, MEDLINE-indexed journal that keeps industry leaders on the forefront of health policy by sharing digital research relevant to industry decision makers. Other brands in the AJMC^® family include The American Journal of Accountable Care^® and Evidence-Based Oncology^™. These comprehensive multimedia brands bring together stakeholder views from payers, providers, policy makers and other industry leaders in managed care. AJMC^® is a brand of MJH Life Sciences^™, the largest privately held, independent, full-service medical media company in North America, dedicated to delivering trusted health care news across multiple channels.